


Open For Business

by lastyoungrene_gay_de



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-06-02 13:33:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19442479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastyoungrene_gay_de/pseuds/lastyoungrene_gay_de
Summary: Klaus makes an impulse decision and ends up starting a business using his powers to help people communicate with the dead, but it isn't much like he expects it to be.





	1. The Beginning of Something Good

“I can’t believe you actually did this,” Diego said as he stood in the center of the room with his head up, looking at the ceiling. 

“Why not?” Klaus asked as he pushed a chair behind the desk in the front room of the space, right in front of the entrance. “It sounds exactly like something I would do.” 

“Maybe New Klaus,” Diego said. “And I’m still getting used to New Klaus.” 

Sober Klaus. It’s what they both knew he meant but neither of them said. It had been months, but no one really knew what to expect from Sober Klaus yet, including Klaus. 

“Well, get used to it,” Klaus said as he sat in the chair and put his feet up on the desk. “‘Cause I’m here and I’m ready to live my fuckin’ life.” He put his hands behind his head with his elbows sticking out on either side and leaned back in the chair. 

“You don’t look or sound very professional right now, Klaus.” Diego reached over and shoved his brother’s legs off the desk. 

“Well we’re not open yet, asshole,” Klaus responded as his feet his the floor with a thud. Diego smirked. 

“How are you even going to get this place open?” he asked. Klaus had been wondering that himself. He didn’t exactly have stacks of extra cash lying around for expenses and advertising. 

“That one is still to be determined,” he said and pointed finger guns at Diego. “Ask again later.” 

Diego narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. 

“This entire thing was an irresponsible impulse decision, wasn’t it?” 

Silence. 

Crickets. 

More silence. 

“Oh my god, Klaus!”

“Okay! Fine. Yes, it was,” Klaus said but threw his hands up defensively, his tattoos on full display. “But look me in the eyes and tell me that this isn’t genius.” Diego said nothing. “Come on, man. This is the smartest thing I’ve ever done. Making money off of my shitty power, it’s finally something positive coming from these fucking ghosts rather than constant noise and the craving for the sweet release of death- no offense Ben.” 

“None taken,” Ben responded from where he was sitting on the floor. “But, how would being dead yourself be a break? Don’t you think you would still see and deal with all your new friends?” Diego didn’t acknowledge his presence, so Klaus wasn’t sure if he could see him. And because he knew he was sober enough that Ben would be visible to all if he wanted to be, he decided not to worry about it. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t follow me around screaming if I wasn’t alive and able to do things myself,” Klaus shot back. Diego shook his head, probably able to pick up on what Ben’s comment was. 

“I can do this,” Klaus said to Diego. “I just need a little time.” 

Diego looked at him. And looked at him. And looked at him, silent for a moment before he spoke. 

“There isn’t really anything I can do to stop you is there?” 

Klaus smiled and laughed as he pulled his brother into a hug. 

“Nope,” he said when they pulled apart. “There isn’t a goddamn thing you can do to stop this.” 

“I thought so,” Diego sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. Klaus could read his expressions as well as he could read the tattoos on his palms- he still wasn’t sure about this. 

But Klaus was determined to do this, and to do it well. He was sure he could make it work. He had to make it work. 

“Trust me,” he said, “this is going to be so great.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Diego said. He looked around at the space again. “I think you can do great things here, Klaus.” The side of his mouth tugged upward ever so slightly, and Klaus believed him. 

~~~

“How exactly do you plan on turning this into a business?” one of the spirits asked later that night. 

Klaus was still at the office space, pacing the floor as he tried to put all the pieces together. 

He had a little money left over from the last time he snuck into the old mansion and stolen and sold some of his fathers… less treasured items. He had planned on using the money on shutting some ghosts up, but he’d ended up getting sober before he spent it. Diego had told him to hang on to whatever he had, and he listened to him. 

He’d used a large chunk of the money getting the office space after walking past it on the street on the way to buy toothpaste. He could use the rest to get the place up and running. 

He didn’t want to fail. He’d already worried Diego too much during this whole process. He’d crashed at Diego’s apartment after a scare, and ended up staying with him while cleaned himself up. 

If he couldn’t do this for himself he would do it for Diego, and he was starting to see how. 

In the time it had been since his last high, he had gotten used to the lingering spirits. Some stayed with him for a few hours, some for a few days, but he had gotten used to the fact that there was always someone with him other than Ben. This particular spirit had been glued to his back for nine days now, and her mouth was never shut.  _ Do you know what happened to my dog? Can you find my granddaughter? Would you be a dear and send this to my son for me? _ It was always one thing another. 

“Well, you see, Ginger,” Klaus said as he tried to remember how he’d tricked his last talker into leaving him alone. He would have rather listened to a hundred more of Henry’s fishing stories than anymore of Ginger’s requests. “I actually got the idea from you and all the favors you keeps asking me for. People still have business with the dead, but no way to do it.” He walked over to the only piece of furniture in the office- his desk. 

Wow, he had a desk. 

He climbed on top of it and sat with his legs crossed. He rested an elbow on each knee and his chin on his fists. 

“I’ll help both parties communicate. I’ll be the telephone between the living and the deceased. A ghost walkie-talkie, OH,” he gasped and his eyes lit up with excitement. “I’ll officially be The Human Ouija Board.” Klaus uncurled his fists and looked at the words printed on his palms. 

**HELLO. GOODBYE.**

“Do you remember when we were thirteen and you tried to change your umbrella name to that from The Seance?” Ben asked, suddenly materializing next to him on the desk with his legs hanging off the edge and swinging like a toddler. 

“That was genius, okay!” Klaus said. “What kind of bullshit name is The Seance anyway? The Human Ouija Board is  _ sooo _ much better.” 

“You started writing that shit on your hands everyday,” Ben recalled, “you would beg me to write it on your left hand everyday because you couldn’t write it with your right.” 

“Yeah, and I never learned. I had to bite the bullet and get it tattooed after you died,” Klaus said. He was surprised he remembered that. He was on so much shit back then. 

“Tomorrow I’m gonna take the last of my money and get some chairs and tables and shit for this place,” he said, changing the subject quickly. “Get some cool lamps and shit. Maybe some art for the walls.” 

He turned and looked at Ben again, who was staring at him thoughtfully. 

“What?” Ben shook his head. 

“You’re really gonna do this aren’t you?”

Klaus was silent for a moment. All the spirits in the room followed suit. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were all dead, it would have seemed like they were holding their breath. 

Klaus looked back and thought about the years of his life since he left the Academy. All the stillness and failed projects and abandoned ideas. Not this time. He wouldn’t-  _ couldn’t _ \- do that this time. 

“Yeah,” he answered earnestly with a small smile. “I am.”


	2. The Customer Is Never Right

It turns out people really misunderstood what Klaus was doing here. It had been a few weeks since he’d opened up, and business was going surprisingly well except for one thing: despite what people kept walking into the shop thinking, Klaus was not psychic. He wasn’t sure how “other worldly communication” became “can tell the future” in so many people’s minds, but here he was, sitting at his desk flipping through a copy of  _ The Beginners Guide to Divination _ because he knew who he was catering to now. 

He’d skipped straight to the chapters on palm reading. He figured that would be the easiest section to start off with since the others were about astrology, tarot, and numerology. Intricate and not in high demand, didn’t have tarot cards (yet), and numbers were his greatest enemy. That left him with palm reading, due to the fact that he had hands. The decision had been surprisingly easy. 

“So this isn’t going exactly as planned,” Ben said. Klaus had pulled two chairs in front of the desk for customers with questions or trying to make appointments. Ben had them turned facing each other and was sitting in one with his feet up on the other. 

“No,” Klaus said as he scribbled about the meanings and placements of the mounts of the hands on a bright orange sticky note. “But I didn’t expect it to go perfectly either.” He paused and looked up at Ben. His eyebrows were raised and he was giving him a quizzical look. “Okay, fine.  _ Hoped _ things would go perfectly? Yes, of course. I’ve also have too much life experience to be too much of an optimist and, figured I would fuck  _ something _ up.” 

“Klaus,” Ben said sharply, “you’re doing great.” 

He didn’t feel like he was doing great. He felt like he entered a race without knowing the distance and used to much of is energy at the starting line. Now he was realizing he was running a marathon. He was worried he would give up and not finish at all because he would inevitably run into another problem eventually and not have the motivation to keep going. 

Like always.

He didn’t say that, though. All he did was purse his lips and mumble, “Whatever.” 

Ben opened his mouth to speak again, but Klaus turned back to the book. He didn’t say anything. When Klaus looked up again a few seconds later, he wasn’t there. 

Klaus looked down at his collection of sticky notes. The back room was already covered in multicolored squares. The wall served as a place to keep the important stuff, but also be able to move the information around as he took more notes. 

Ben had suggested a notebook, but Klaus had never done well with those. It seemed like he could never write things down in the right order, and notebooks were so… still. He ended up spending more time flipping back and forth in the pages looking for what came next than actually learning from what he wrote down. Eventually he just gave up on writing things all together, and all that had done was give his father and siblings more reason to call him things like “lazy” and “a slacker.” He only started the sticky note technique because he impulse bought a cube of rainbow post-its and felt bad for not using them. 

He took his new notes to the back and stuck them on the wall in between the drawing of the lines of the hands and the name of the popular tarot card deck (Rider-Waite). When he stepped back out, there was a woman waiting by the front desk. 

She was an older woman with lines by her eyes and greying hair. She had on a loose fitting pink t-shirt and light blue jeans, and was clutching a small black purse in front of her with both hands. 

“Hello,” Klaus said and plastered a smile on his face. “How can I help you?” 

He’d figured out pretty quickly how he needed to speak to customers. Personal but polite. He was offering a service in this capitalistic hell where he suddenly thought like a morally grey cartoon character, but he needed to know about them to do it well. It was a fine line that he hadn’t quite perfected walking yet. 

“I need to know if my next grandbaby is going to be a boy or a girl,” the woman responded seriously. Klaus did his best to hold back a sigh. He had a bad feeling about this one already. 

“So, that actually isn’t what I do. I’m not psychic and cannot tell the future,” he said as he walked back behind the desk. The woman’s face fell. 

“What do you mean?” she asked quickly. Defensively. Oh boy. 

“I can’t see the future,” Klaus said simply. 

“Well then why do you make it seem like you do?” 

_ Communicate with those you’ve lost _ , he thought. How much more obvious could it be that he talked to fucking dead people? 

“Excuse me?” he asked. Even as he spoke he could hear the edge in his voice. It wasn’t on purpose, but it was there none the less, and she heard it too. 

“Sir, I don’t know what could possibly be wrong with you that you would so rudely refuse to help me, but-” 

He almost snapped. He couldn’t help but be a bit proud of himself for hearing Ben’s voice in the back of his head telling him to calm down, though. He’d spent so long ignoring them when Ben was next to him, alive or dead, that it felt wrong to actually listen to them. 

Then Klaus’ attention was pulled from the woman’s shrill voice for just a second as the door opened. He was about to force her ass outside, but the path was blocked by someone entering the shop. 

“-is ridiculous!” she finished as Klaus returned his attention to her. 

“Is there a problem here?” the newcomer asked. The woman’s head whipped around to look at the man standing in the doorway, and Klaus looked at him over her shoulder. He had a bag slung over one of his broad shoulders and a mass of dirty blond curls. 

“Is something wrong?” he repeated. His gaze flicked back and forth between Klaus and the angry woman, which made it difficult for Klaus to tell who he was directing the question to. It didn’t matter, as she seemed to think she was asking her. 

“This man is refusing to help me,” she said and threw an accusing finger up at Klaus. “He’s trying to tell me that he  _ can’t _ see the future despite what kind of business he runs!” 

The man looked up at Klaus, who didn’t know what to say. He’d been in lots of arguments in his life. He’d argued with his siblings, strangers on the streets, roomamtes, and even with a few dealers when he was feeling particularly stupid, and he couldn’t remember a time when he was as lost for words as he was then. However, before he had to say anything, the man looked back at the woman and smiled. 

“Oh, yeah. He can’t see the future,” he said. “I can, and he must not have known I was coming back for the day, isn’t that right?” He directed the question at Klaus, and he could see him give him a look over her head.  _ Play along. _

“Right,” he perked up, and she looked at him suspiciously. “I was about to suggest making an appointment to make sure you don’t miss him next time, but it looks like that won’t be necessary.” He looked back at his mysterious new business partner, who nodded his head once. 

“Perfect,” he said and shrugged the bag off his shoulder. “It is okay if we use the table?” 

He was referring to the large dining table Klaus had bought for the space a few weeks before at a thrift shop. It was clearly meant for an elaborate mansion dining room and didn’t have any matching chairs, but he couldn’t get past it. Pairing it with nine mismatched chairs gave the space an energy Klaus thought fit the one he wanted for the shop. 

“Yeah yeah, no problem,” he said and waived them toward the table. The woman shot Klaus a withering look as she walked past, but he just smiled and was glad to be done with her. The guy gave him a thumbs up with the hand he wasn’t holding his bag with. 

To say Klaus was confused would be an understatement. 

However, he was also grateful. 

“So how can I help you…?” he trailed off in another question as he sat down. 

“Sarah,” the woman answered the unasked question. 

“Sarah!” he said. “I’m Dave. So, how can I help you, Sarah?”  _ Dave. _

“Well,” Sarah began. “My daughter-in-law is pregnant-” 

“And you need to know if you should bet on a granddaughter or grandson,” Dave finished for her with a knowing smile. 

“Exactly!” she said sweetly. It never ceased to amaze Klaus how quickly people could turn sour and back. 

“Bet on a girl.” 

“Well, thank you. I need to call my friend Beth. She thinks it’s going to be a boy, so I need to put some money on it.” 

“Good idea,” Dave said as they stood up. 

“Well, thank you again.” She fished her phone out of her purse. 

“It is absolutely no problem,” he responded. Klaus noticed him inching her toward the door and had to fight to keep a smile off his face. 

“Well you have a nice day, Dave,” Sarah said and flashed him a smile, which he returned. Klaus ignored the second look she directed at him as she left. 

Klaus and Dave both stared at the door in silence as it swung shut behind her. 

“Well, Dave said eventually, breaking the silence. “She was a bitch.” 

Klaus laughed and ended up snorting, then slapped a hand over the entire bottom half of his face. He looked at Dave, who laughed in response. 

“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to laugh at you.” 

“No, I get it. I’m Klaus by the way.” 

“Dave.” He held out a hand for Klaus to shake. He took it hesitantly. “I’m really sorry for taking over, I just-” 

“Don’t apologize,” Klaus cut him off. “You saved my ass.” Dave chuckled. Klaus thought it was nice. 

“I don’t know, she might be kinda pissed off when she finds out I told her to bet on the wrong one.” 

Klaus’ jaw dropped. 

“Did you really?” he asked as he burst out laughing. He knew he shouldn’t have enjoyed that knowledge so much but- 

“She was being a bitch,” Dave shrugged.  _ Exactly. _

“I think you might be my new favorite person,” Klaus forced through his laughter. Dave waited for his laughter to die before continuing, but Klaus saw the smug grin he was obviously trying to hide. 

“So do you get that often?” he asked. “People wanting to know the future?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus nodded. “I’m trying to learn some of the basic stuff that’s in high demand, but there are just some things that I can’t do; like that.” He gestured to the table to indicate the conversation Dave had made look easy. 

“Yeah,” Dave nodded along. “But why do so many people not understand?” Klaus nodded and waved his hands enthusiastically as he continued. “I don’t think you could be more obvious-” 

“-that he talks to dead people,” Ben finished, suddenly materializing behind them. Klaus could tell he materialized because Dave jumped when he spoke. “Like me,” Ben added when Dave gave him a confused look. 

Dave nodded, both in understanding and like Ben said exactly what he was thinking. 

“Yeah, pretty much,” he said and gestured to Ben with a hand. 

“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Klaus agreed. “People keep coming in asking…” He trailed off as an idea hit him. 

It might not be the smartest thing but Klaus was kind of known for bad ideas. He’d been on a good idea streak for a while. It was about time for another one on the dumber side.

He looked over at Dave. He shook away the thought, _dumber and gayer_ before he spoke. 

“Any chance you’re looking for a job?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep worrying about my characterization and how maybe I'm not doing enough to get my ideas across, but then I think 'hey at least I'm not writing incest' and slam the post button. Find me on Tumblr and talk to me about literally anything I beg of you (@lastyoungrene-gay-de).


	3. Where There Are Questions, There Are Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk what to think of this chapter. I feel like this is kind of a filler chapter, but I knew I had to write this so we could get to know Dave. I’ve been getting a few questions a lot, and I figured I would answer them here so I would only have to do it once. Question 1: when is this set? To be honest, I didn’t really think about it until I started getting this question, but I’m gonna say two or three years before the show- in my head, Luther is on the moon, and Dave is here because it’s fanfiction and I can. Question 2: what exactly was Dave doing? Can he actually see the future or was he just helping out? Yes, I made Dave psychic once again, because I can.

Klaus was stupid. He’d acknowledged, accepted, and embraced it- all within seventeen minutes of Dave’s first day at work with him. 

At least he was gay and stupid instead of straight and stupid; he didn’t know if he would have been able to handle himself then. Then again, if he were straight and stupid he wouldn’t have been in this situation- the situation being that Dave was amazing and Klaus may or may not have been in love with him. 

“What kind of person offers a job to someone they just met?” Dave asked late that first afternoon, after an hour long conversation where the two of them argued about who had the weirdest, most unbelievable experience. Klaus was shocked to find that Dave could keep up with his own odd stories. 

“What kind of person accepts a job offer from a random person?” Klaus countered over his mug of tea. Dave shrugged to say  _ touche _ , and Klaus smirked and took a sip. Dave smiled at him. “And most people offer jobs to people they just met,” Klaus continued. “It’s considered more acceptable because there’s usually a more formal process, so unfortunately that’s considered normal.” 

“And I have a feeling not much about you is close to normal,” Dave said slowly. 

“Nothing at all,” Klaus said proudly and raised his mug. “And thank the universe and all of her wonders for that.” 

He swallowed the last of his tea and used his legs to push his rolling chair across the room toward the break room/ kitchen. He pushed again as the chair slowed close to a stop, and Dave’s laughter filled the room when he slammed into the wall next to the doorway. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I don’t wanna stand up!” 

“Why?” Dave forced through his laughter. 

“Why should I stand up when my chair has fucking wheels on it?” Klaus answered as he pulled himself forward on the doorframe and into the room. 

He wheeled himself past the crappy sofa he’d spent most nights on since he bought the space, then past the small square table he’d spent most evenings sitting at doing anything to distract himself from the mere idea of drugs. He got to the sink and rinsed his mug out before setting it on the counter to remind later him to clean it and put it away. 

He scooted back into the main room and up to the front desk. He grabbed  _ The Beginners Guide To Divination _ , his post-its, and a pen and made his way back to the table. Dave laughed again as he got there. 

“I think there was a  _ Brooklyn Nine-Nine _ episode like that,” he said as Klaus set his stuff on the table. He looked up at him with his mouth hanging open and threw a hand over his chest dramatically. 

“If my life has become a  _ Brooklyn Nine-Nine _ plot line I will consider it an accomplishment.” 

“It was a Hitchcock and Scully sub-plot,” Dave said with a tilt of his head.

“They got Rosa to do it.” Klaus slammed his hands on the table. “And what’s wrong with Hitchcock and Scully?” 

“Nothing, nothing,” Dave laughed and put his hands up in joking surrender. “You’re right, you win.” 

Klaus really, really enjoyed making Dave laugh. His laugh was big and booming and fun. Just hearing it made Klaus smile. 

He was so fucked. 

“So how did you end up doing this?” Dave asked and fixed Klaus with a curious expression from across the dining table. 

Klaus sighed as he tried to figure out how to answer. He felt Ben’s eyes on his, wondering how much he would reveal. 

“It’s complicated,” he settled on and hoped Dave wouldn’t press for more. He didn’t. All he did was nod his head. 

“With that kind of ability,” he said and smiled, “I’m sure it is.”

“Yeah,” Klaus agreed softly.  _ You have no idea. _ He was about to open his mouth to ask Dave how he discovered what he could do, but the moment was cut short by the door opening. 

They both turned and saw a teenager standing tensley at the front of the shop. The kid had short hair dyed a deep, bright red and wore a dark blue button up short sleeve shirt and loose black jeans. With such an obviously androgyenous look, Klaus couldn’t take a guess at pronouns, and something told him that was the point. 

“Hi,” they said. They couldn’t have seemed more nervous to Klaus, and strong parental instincts kicked in from somewhere inside of him and he wanted to squeeze this person into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” they continued, “but I just had some questions.” Their hands were fidgeting at their sides and their voice was stiff and timid. 

Dave leaned forward. “What kind of questions?”

“Um,” they said and pursed their lips. 

“Past or future?” Klaus asked softly. 

“Future.” 

“Right over here,” Dave said with a smile. 

“Dave’ll help you out,” Klaus said at the same time and pointed across his body to Dave, who raised a hand and waved. The kid’s face softened the tiniest bit. 

“So, can I ask your name?” Dave asked as Klaus pushed himself and his chair to the end of the table. 

“Chris,” they said after a short pause. 

“And how can I help you, Chris?” Dave asked with a kind smile.

“I just have a few questions, some things I’m worried about and am not sure how to handle,” Chris answered. Klaus could tell the words, though not elegant, were chosen strategically. Chris was trying to answer honestly but conceal as much as possible. They were nervous. 

“Okay, so,” Dave said cheerfully, “there are a few different ways to get your questions answered. I think the way you’re gonna wanna go is gonna be the one that requires you to say the least.” 

Chris’ eyes widened and they jumped into defense. 

“Uh, um- we don’t have to, um, if-” 

“No, no, no,” Dave said quickly. Chris looked at him the way a deer looks at headlights appearing from around a corner. “That’s a perfectly fine way to do it. I’m suggesting it because you seem nervous, and I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, I am nervous,” Chris laughed awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I just-” 

“It’s alright,” Dave said. “I understand.” 

“And I can leave the room if that would make you feel any more comfortable,” Klaus piped up from down the table. 

“No, it’s fine, I don’t want to be a problem,” Chris insisted and turned back to Dave. “How would we do this?” Dave looked over at Klaus before he answered. 

“We would do some simple tarot,” he said and reached to the ground for his bag. “And instead of you asking me a question and I shuffle, you shuffle the cards. You don’t have to give me any details you don’t want to.” 

“Alright.” 

“The only difference with the interpretation would be that I wouldn’t be able to apply the card’s meaning directly to the situation to answer your question, I would just be able to explain the card to you to interpret yourself.” 

“Okay, so I just shuffle the and pick one?” 

“Yup. Concentrate on what you wanna know as you shuffle,” Dave answered and fished around in his bag. “Is that what you wanna do?” 

“Yeah, that sounds perfect.” 

“Alright,” Dave said and pulled his tarot deck out of his bag. 

Klaus opened the book in an attempt to look like he wasn’t paying attention to what Chris was obviously trying to keep private. However, it wasn’t long before he looked up when he heard the cards shuffling. He looked over at Dave, who was watching him. He smiled at him, then they both looked away as Chris set the cards on the table and flipped the first one over. 

One the card was three golden chalices, one on top of the other two in a small pyramid shape. Blue and black lines swirled around the empty space of the card. 

“Three of Cups” was written along the bottom. 

“Alright,” Dave said and looked down at the card. “Three of Cups. Community of support. Whatever your concern is, you will be met with a conclusion and victory. Depending on the question, the situation could have a positive ending, and a good strong relationship with the people involved.” He looked up at Chris. “Does that kind of phrasing fit the question asked?” 

Klaus looked over at Chris, who was silent. Then they brought their hand to their mouth, and he noticed their eyes were watering slightly. They nodded. 

“That good?” Dave asked. Klaus knew he saw the same things he did. 

“Yeah,” Chris said weakly. 

“Good.” Dave reached for the cards and Chris started digging in his pockets. 

“Here, how much-” 

“No,” Dave said and held up a hand to stop them. Klaus raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. 

“Are you sure?” Chris asked, eyebrows raised. 

“Yeah,” Dave said as he straightened out the cards in the deck. “It’s not necessary.” 

Chris opened their mouth to speak again, but just as they did their phone rang. 

“Thank you,” they said as they stood up and pulled their phone from their pocket. They left the shop as they answered. “Hello?” 

Klaus watched as they left, then turned to Dave. 

“He’s gonna be okay,” Dave muttered before turning to Klaus. “Was that too nice?” 

“No,” he answered. Dave sighed. 

“Well, anyway,” he said and picked up his tarot cards. “Do you have a question?” he asked and spread them over the table dramatically. 

“Yeah,” Klaus answered, only half serious. “Is anyone ever gonna walk in here trying to talk to their dead grandma or something?” 

“Let’s find out,” Dave said and began shuffling. 

Klaus watched his hands. Like, stared very intensely at Dave’s hands as he shuffled. He had very nice hands. He felt like he was in a trance. He only snapped out of it when Dave spoke again. 

“Even is yes, odd is no,” he said and spread the cards on the table. “Pick one.” 

Klaus smirked and put his hand out over the cards. He let his hand rest right above the surface of the table and slowly moved his hands over the cards. After a moment he picked one toward the end on his left side, one the he swore felt warmer beneath his hand. He flipped it over and looked.

A picture of a falling structure surrounded by lightning looked back at him. “The Tower” said the line of text at the bottom, and on the top was XVI. Eighteen. Even. 

The obvious answer to his question felt significant for some reason. 

“Yes,” Dave said. “Someone is going to come in to talk to their dead grandmother.” 

He smiled. 

So did Klaus. 

Dave left for the day not long after that. Klaus spent the evening reading- which no one would have predicted no more than a few months ago, but there he was, buried in  _ The Beginners Guide To Divination _ . So it wasn’t like he was reading Orwell or Hugo for the fun of it. He was reading because he thought it would benefit him and his business, which was totally different than people reading for pleasure. 

Ben appeared toward the end of the night, making his second appearance of the day. And this one was for more than ten seconds. They didn’t say much to each other, but his presence was comforting to Klaus. 

Klaus spent time worrying about how to make sure no one found out he was living in the shop. “No one” being Dave or Diego. 

He didn’t want Diego to have to keep thinking about him. To keep worrying about him. Klaus felt like he had been leaning on Diego too long, and now that he could kind of stand on his own he didn’t want to go back to relying on his brother- for both of them. 

Diego didn’t deserve the extra burden, and Klaus didn’t deserve the extra help. 

He also wasn’t sure what would happen if Dave found out. He didn’t want things to be weird with the person he spent all day working and hanging out with. 

Klaus went to bed worrying, but he fell asleep thinking about Dave’s hands. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chris is a trans guy, but I couldn’t really get too into that because Klaus does not know that. And on that note, Chris is a whole person in my head I had to make just for this chapter, so please come talk to me about Chris over on Tumblr @lastyoungrene-gay-de.


	4. Family, Secrets, and Family Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus has to try to control Diego's mouth when he stops by the shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, here's a chapter thats over half as long as the first three combined.

“What do you call a man with a rubber toe?” 

“What?” 

“Rob-er-toe.” 

Klaus burst into giggles and Dave chuckled warmly. 

“That’s so stupid,” Klaus forced through his laughter. 

“That’s the point,” Dave said. He was looking at Klaus like… Klaus didn’t know, but he didn’t want him to ever stop. 

Dave had started telling Klaus jokes as soon as he got to work in the morning. They were always stupid, corny, dad jokes and Klaus couldn’t get enough of them. Of it. Of him. 

It made Klaus feel guilty for so many reasons, the first of which being that he wasn’t being completely honest with him about his abilities. Or maybe Dave had figured it out on his own and was just being nice enough to not bring it up. ‘It’ being The Umbrella Academy. His… involvement with the Academy had not been discussed. 

He didn’t like not telling Dave, but he didn’t know how to bring it up at that point.  _ “Hey, nice joke and good job with seeing the future, by the way, I was one of six children adopted and dramatically trained to fight crime and save the world, wasn’t that one customer a bitch, see you tomorrow.” _ Yeah… no. And now it was too late to bring it up. 

All Klaus could do now was hope Dave already knew and didn’t say anything about it. But there was nothing he could do to find what he knew without giving himself away. 

But when the door opened while he was laughing at Dave’s dumbass joke, he knew he was fucked, and not in the way he wanted to be. 

Because Diego walked in. 

Klaus felt his smile drop. Ben appeared next to him. 

“Let’s see how this goes,” he muttered to Klaus, who shot him and glare then looked at Dave. He seemed to tell that something was up, and gave Klaus a comforting look. Klaus turned back to Diego. 

“How can I help you, my dearest brother?” 

“Hey!” Ben yelped. Klaus waved him off. 

“How many brothers do you have?” Dave asked from behind him. 

“Too many,” Klaus answered without looking away from Diego. “What’s up?” 

“Where have you been?” Diego demanded. 

“Here,” Klaus said and gestured around the shop. Diego look away from Klaus, and directly at Dave. 

“Who are you?” Klaus flinched at the edge in Diego’s voice as Dave answered. 

“Dave Katz, employed psychic problem solver.” 

Diego furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head as Klaus jumped out of his seat and dragged his brother away. 

“We’ll be right back,” he told Dave as he and Diego made their way to the break room/ kitchen. 

“Got it,” Dave said and gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Klaus couldn’t help but smile back. 

“What the hell, Klaus?” 

“So, business is going pretty well,” Klaus said, ignoring Diego’s tone. 

“Klaus,” he said again. Klaus could tell his patience was wearing thin, but he couldn’t help but mouth off one more time. 

“Yeah, I had some problems connecting to the people, but found the solution by bringing on Dave.” 

“ _ Klaus. _ ” 

“Fine,” he gave in. “What do you want, Diego?” 

“Where have you been?” 

“Here.” 

“Been  _ living _ , Klaus!” 

“ _ Here! _ ” He gestured around the room. Diego looked around the room for the first time. His eyes bounced around the room. Sofa. Sink. Klaus. Refrigerator. Klaus. Table. Klaus. 

“You can’t be serious,” he said eventually. 

“I am,” he said and grabbed Diego’s arm when he turned to leave. “Hey.” 

“You know you can stay with me, right?” Diego snapped as he spun back around. 

“What?” 

“I didn’t have a problem with you living with me,” Diego said. “You didn’t have to leave.” 

Klaus stopped and looked at his shoes- neon pink converse with mismatched glittery laces. He didn’t want to look back up. 

“I know,” he said, but he wasn’t sure if he believed himself. It wasn’t that he thought Diego wanted him to leave; it was more that Klaus himself felt like he needed to go. He always felt like he was in Diego’s hair or in his way. While he would admit that he felt like a burden, it was never Diego who made him feel that way. 

“Then why-” he started, but Klaus cut him off. 

“Don’t.” He left the room. Diego followed. 

“Klaus,” he called after him. 

“It’s not important, Diego,” Klaus said. He opened the door and gestured outside. He looked over at Dave, who was standing with both hands on the table as if he’d used them to shove himself out of his seat, and was looking back and forth between Klaus and Diego. Diego looked between his brother and Dave. 

“I’m coming back later,” he said firmly. He would be here whether Klaus wanted him to show up or not. 

“Okay,” Klaus said with a nod. 

And Diego walked out. 

Klaus closed the door behind him, leaned against it with his eyes closed, and heaved out a sigh. 

“Are you okay?” Dave asked softly. Klaus nodded but didn’t turn around. 

And suddenly Dave was behind him with a hand on his shoulder. 

“Really, Klaus,” he said. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” he answered and turned around. “I promise it’s not as bad as it seems.” 

He knew it looked bad, he really did. But he also knew he had stopped caring about other people’s opinions on his relationship with his family a long time ago. He had to. 

Which is why he needed to make sure Diego didn’t give anything away to Dave. If Diego let something slip, he would lose what little control he had over how much Dave knew, and how he would get to explain to him. He couldn’t stand the idea of Dave thinking Klaus was trying to make sure he never found out or that he was keeping it from him. So he had to make sure his conversation with Diego would happen when Dave couldn’t over hear anything. 

The problem with that plan was that now Klaus couldn’t explain Diego’s attitude. That was a huge problem right now, because Dave didn’t look convinced. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “Siblings,” he added, hoping that would explain it all away. 

“Okay,” Dave said, and didn’t say anything else about it. 

  
  


~~~

  
  


Klaus didn’t know what to expect from Diego that night. 

“What? No housewarming gift?” Klaus said as he unlocked the door for Diego. “No plant that we both know I’ll eventually forget to water and kill, not even a plate of cookies?” 

Diego didn’t answer, but the glare he directed at Klaus was enough to shut him up. 

“I don’t understand you sometimes,” he said. He walked over to the dining table and let out a sigh as he sat down at the head of the table. Klaus followed and stood in front of him. “Did I do something?” he asked. “What did I do to make you leave?” 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Klaus said quickly and waved his hands to slow his brother down. “What makes you think you did something?” 

“Why else would you do this?” Diego threw his arms out violently as he spoke. “Move out, start a business, and sleep in your fucking shop.” 

Klaus sat down in the seat closest to Diego and looked at him. 

“I know it’s hard to believe, because I really didn’t until it happened, but I don’t need help with everything,” he said earnestly. Diego looked at him. “I’ve actually been doing okay. I mean, some things aren’t going perfectly, but I don’t deserve things to be perfect.” 

“Klaus,” Diego said. “You don’t deserve everything in life treating you like shit.” 

“Klaus scoffed. “Really?” 

“Yes!” Diego insisted. “We both got crap when we were kids. All of us did.” 

“Yeah, and then I kept acting like crap long after all that was over, I don’t get good things from life after that,” Klaus said. He hadn’t meant for that to slip out, but it was too late to pretend it wasn’t the truth. 

“Bull _ shit _ ,” Diego yelled and slammed a hand on the table. Klaus jumped back from his explosion. “Klaus, I lived with you long enough to know that you didn’t just take hating Dad away from that. You say you kept acting like crap long after that shit was over, but you still got shit after we left. It wasn’t over for you for a long time after Dad wasn’t there anymore, it still might not even be over now. I don’t know what kind of shit you got, but you got more than I did.” 

Klaus knew what he was talking about. The sleepless nights, the drugs, the screaming. 

But he never told him, or anyone for that matter, about it. Diego had his own problems to deal with, and as much as anyone who knew him might have thought differently, Klaus refused to make his problems Diego’s. 

“It’s my problem, not yours,” Klaus said simply while staring at the table. 

“Don’t,” Diego said, and opened his mouth to continue. 

“Diego, you don’t know how to handle your own shit, much less my weird ‘ _ power of the dead’ _ induced shit,” Klaus snapped. Diego sighed. Klaus could tell he knew he was right, but he could also tell he wasn’t ready to drop it. 

“Klaus, you don’t have to do crap alone.” 

That was just it. He’d always felt like he did. He didn’t want anyone to know what he life was really like. He wanted to be care free Klaus, and anyone knew what he saw when he looked around a room, he wouldn’t be carefree, fun Klaus. 

He’d be fucked in the head Klaus. 

“Diego, we’re not doing this.” 

Diego just looked at him. And looked and looked and looked. 

“I think you should.” Klaus and Diego both jumped at the unexpected sound of Ben’s voice. 

“Christ on a cracker!” Klaus yelped. “What the fuck?” 

“I think you should talk about it,” Ben said. 

“What?” Klaus demanded. He didn’t expect this from  _ Ben _ . Ben who is dead. Dead Ben who is the only person Klaus could talk to who could even begin to understand what it’s like. 

“You’ve done it before, at rehab. You were always vague, but you’ve done it before. You know what to say.” But he really didn’t. 

Diego turned from Ben to Klaus with his eyebrows raised as if to say ‘well look who’s on my side.’ 

“I think it’ll help,” Ben finished. Klaus looked at him with a blank expression. 

“I hate you,” he said. But he didn’t. He considered what he said, everything he said. He thought back to his rounds of rehab, getting things off his chest. Even the most generic of explanations was a release. The problem was there had never been any solution to his clusterfuck of a life, no resolution to his cryptic confessions. 

But this would be different. He wouldn’t have to be vague. He would be talking to his  _ brothers _ . The ones who went through the same fucked up childhood and would have some sort of grasp on what he was telling them. Saying he didn’t have any idea how things should have been as a kid would make sense, because this audience had lived through the same thing. 

“Fine,” he huffed. “Get comfortable, because we’re about to open the biggest can of worms in history.”

He still had no clue where to start, though. Dad? What he sees? Drugs?

So he relied on Ben. 

“Where should I start?” he asked him. 

“What do you mean?” 

“You already know some, and I don’t know where to start. This was all your idea, so tell me,” Klaus responded. 

“Powers,” Ben said after a moment of thought. 

“Okay.” Klaus took a deep breath. “Obviously, I can see dead people. That’s nothing new, we’re past that, literally the entire world knows that, but I’m not seeing Casper the fucking friendly ghost here.” Diego leaned forward but didn’t say anything. “These ghosts, they aren’t quiet,” he continued. “For as long as I can remember, my life has always had a background track of screaming. I’ve had someone’s ghost cuss me out every morning for years.” 

“Wait,” Diego said and waved a hand. “Go back to the screaming for a second.” 

“‘ _ Klaus, help me _ !’  _ ‘Klaus, no _ !’ ‘ _ Klaus, Klaus, Klaus _ !’ he said in a harsh screech to imitate the kind of noises he grew up with. He didn’t get close, but they didn’t need to know that. “Constantly.” 

“What about now?” Diego asked. 

“Sometimes it’s like that now,” he said honestly. “The drugs made it quiet.” He looked at Diego and Ben. That was what he hated. The look in their eyes. Pity. He hated that. “They turned the volume down, blurred my sight, so I did what I thought I had to do for some silence. Some alone time,” he said. “Dad didn’t try to do anything to stop it, to help me, because Dad would never dream of doing anything nice for any of us. He just wanted to test us and understand why we were able to do things.” 

“Yeah, never heard of him doing anything helpful,” Diego said. An awkward silence followed, and Diego continued talking. “He used to throw things at my head to see if I could control things he threw.” 

“He trapped me in the mausoleum with spirits when we were kids,” Klaus said casually. 

“ _ What _ ?” Diego and Ben hissed in unison. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Used to lock me inside for hours at a time until I ‘ _ stopped being afraid of the dead _ .’” He made comically overexaggerated air quotes with his hands while impersonating their father to try to lighten the situation. 

It didn’t work. 

“Hold on one goddamn second, Klaus,” Diego almost yelled. “What the fuck?” 

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “Did you guys really not know this?” 

“ _ No _ !” Ben and Diego screamed. 

“Oh.” And just like that, Klaus didn’t feel like talking anymore. He didn’t want to remember any of this anymore. His head was going to bad places. “Can we maybe drop this?” 

Diego looked at him and his expression shifted. Anger to pity. 

Or maybe it was just sympathy. 

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “Yeah, we can stop.” Ben nodded along with him. 

“Come on,” Diego said and waved an arm as he turned toward the door. 

“Where are we going?” Klaus asked as he sat up straighter in his seat. 

“You’re staying at my place tonight,” Diego said, then added: “On the bed.” 

“Are you sure?” Klaus said and began to slowly stand up. 

“Go,” Ben said and gestured for him to follow Diego. And Klaus jumped the rest of the way out of his seat and followed his brother out the door, locking it behind them. 

“Look, Diegop, are you sure?” 

“Yeah,” Diego said as he unlocked his car. The two looked at each other as they slid into their seats. Klaus must not have looked convinced, because Diego said, “You left, I didn’t kick you out. I’m not the one changing my mind here.” 

“Fine,” Klaus said. He could sense Ben in the backseat. Diego turned the key in the ignition and hit the gas. 

“Besides,” Diego continued. Klaus popped an eyebrow. He had a pretty good idea what was coming next. “I’m going out. I have things I gotta do.” Klaus was right. 

“Ah,” Klaus sighed. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat’s headrest. “Does justice need to be served, or does your girlfriend need company?” 

“Well, it can’t be a girlfriend, because I don’t have one of those.” 

“What?” Klaus opened his eyes and lurched forward off the seat to face his brother. “What happened to that last girl? The cop with morals. I never met one of those before, I liked her.” 

“Eudora, and you met her completely by accident,” Diego said and took a sharp turn that nearly slammed Klaus against the passenger window. “And apparently my moral compass was a little different than hers, because my way of solving problems was why it ended. She said it didn’t do enough to put assholes behind bars, and it didn’t help the people who got hurt by it enough. She did actually want to help people.” 

“Huh,” Klaus said. “That’s kinda backwards. Cops don’t usually wanna do that.” 

“Shut up. That’s why I didn’t last in the police academy.” He slammed on the brakes as they approached a red light and almost sent Klaus through the windshield. He glared at Diego, who stared straight forward. “But while we’re on the topic of relationships…” He continued slowly and finally looked over at Klaus.  _ Oh no _ , he thought. “That Dave guy.” 

“Yes,” Ben called from the backseat. 

“Yes, what?” Klaus asked and spun around to face him. 

“I’m answering Diego’s question,” he directed at Klaus, then turned to Diego. “Yes, Klaus has a  _ huge _ thing for Dave.” 

“He did not ask that question!” 

“Yes, I did. Thank you Ben.” They shot each other toothy grins in the rearview mirror. “So,” Diego continued, “how long has that been a thing?” 

“It’s not,” Klaus said. 

“Klaus won’t say anything,” Ben said. 

“There’s too much he doesn’t know,” Klaus defended. 

“Like what?” 

“The Academy.” 

“What the fuck do you mean  _ The Academy _ ?” Diego said. He pulled into his apartment building’s parking lot and into a parking spot. He looked at Klaus, who could feel his body folding in on itself. 

“He mean he’s never talked to him about it,” Ben asked. “And he doesn’t know if Dave actually knows or not.” 

Diego’s expression softened. 

“Too much, huh?” he asked. Klaus just nodded in response. “If it helps, I don’t think he knows, or at least he didn’t this morning.” 

“What? Why do you think so?” 

“‘How many brothers do you have?” Diego said as he pulled the handle and shoved the door open. “If he knew about The Academy, he wouldn’t have had to ask.” 

Then he stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Klaus stared after him and shook his head, then he opened his own door. 

“I swear to god, there’s no reason for everyone in this family to be so fucking dramatic, there’s no blood relation,” he muttered, and followed his brother inside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, rereading and editing this chapter: does it make sense? I think so, I hope it makes sense to the readers bc I'm just gonna post it and be proud I'm not writing incest because that is still a surprisingly huge problem :))). 
> 
> Yes, I stole the joke at the beginning from a 5 Second of Summer interview, who cares. 
> 
> Also, come yell at me about the fic or TUA in general over on tumblr @lastyoungrene-gay-de .


	5. I Can Read You Like The Palm of Your Hand

“Hurry up, Diego,” Klaus said and waved his arms dramatically toward the apartment door. He was taking too long for Klaus’ comfort, who had to get to the shop in time to open. He also had to get there before Dave. 

“Can I made up for not being up at the crack of dawn with coffee?” Diego called from his room. 

“Only if you fucking hurry!”

Diego walked out of his room pulling a jacket onto his arms. 

“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” he said. “What’s the rush anyway?” 

“I gotta get there before Dave,” Klaus answered with one hand on the doorknob.

“Why?” Diego grabbed his keys and made his way to the door. 

“I have the fucking key.” He decided not to mention that he hadn’t told Dave he was living in the shop, and if he showed up late today it might raise some questions. He also knew Dave wouldn’t press, but Klaus would rather avoid it for a bit longer than tell him anything, truth or otherwise. “I don’t want him to have to wait outside,” he added. 

“Oh my god, it’s not the end of the fucking world if the guy you like has to stand outside for a few fucking minutes.”

“Shut up and hurry,” Klaus said. They made their way to the car. Ben appeared and followed behind them. 

“Coffee then to the shop,” Klaus said and began drumming his fingers on the dashboard once they got in the car. They drove in silence other than the tapping. 

Diego pulled into a coffee shop parking lot and Klaus jumped out of the car and practically sprinted inside to look at their menu. Diego ordered something that didn’t take long to say and Klaus ordered the exact opposite. He spoke too quickly for the barista to catch, and had to repeat himself twice before she could get it all. 

“Are you sure you need the coffee, man?” Diego asked. 

“Shut up,” Klaus responded. 

“Anything else for you?” the barista asked with what was clearly a forced smile. Klaus couldn’t blame her for that; even he knew it was too early to be dealing with him. He didn’t know how Dave did it every day. 

“Yeah, actually,” he said, and rattled off Dave’s coffee order. 

“Alright,” she said and Diego handed over a handful of crumpled bills. 

“Who else did I just buy coffee for?” he asked as they waited for their drinks. 

“Dave,” Klaus said shortly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. 

“Why did I just buy your boyfriend coffee?” 

“He isn’t my boyfriend, and because we’re totally gonna be late.” The first part of Klaus’ statement was quiet, but the second was delivered a-matter-of-factly. 

They spent the rest of their wait in silence. 

Klaus quietly sipped his coffee on the way to the shop, and Diego didn’t touch his the entire way there. It sat untouched in the cupholder next to Dave’s. 

Much to Klaus’ surprise, they got to the shop before Dave did. 

“So I got this guy coffee for nothing,” Diego griped, only half serious. 

“We got him coffee because we’re nice,” Klaus said as he opened the passenger side door. 

“Whatever,” Diego grumbled as he got out of the car. He grabbed his coffee as Klaus got ahold of Dave’s cup. The two made their way to the door and Klaus shoved his cup into his brother’s hand and reached for his keys. He took his cup back from Diego and took another sip as he opened the door. 

Diego and Ben followed him inside. 

They all walked over to the dining table. Diego and Ben each sat in a chair and Klaus climbed on top of the table itself and sat with his legs crossed. He set his coffee down in front of him and Dave’s next to him. 

Diego finally took a sip of his coffee. 

“So when Dave gets here,” Diego began, but he wasn’t able to finish. 

“You’re going to be nice,” Klaus cut him off. “Especially since you weren’t yesterday.” 

“But if he isn’t?” Ben asked. 

Then I’ll kill him,” Klaus said seriously with another sip of coffee. “And if your presence is a bad influence on him, I will find a way to kill a dead person just to make you die again.” 

“Wow.” 

“Because that might actually be another power of mine that we don’t know about yet.” Another sip of coffee. 

The door opened as Diego and Ben picked their jaws up off the floor. 

“Hi,” Klaus said when he saw it was Dave entering the shop. Dave smiled at him, but the smile fell and his steps faltered when his eyes landed on Diego. 

“Hey,” he said slowly. “Sorry I’m late.” 

“It’s no problem,” Klaus said and held out the coffee cup. “We got coffee because I thought you were gonna beat us here today.” 

The smile returned. 

“Thanks.” 

He had such a positive energy all the time. Almost anything he did made Klaus happy. 

Diego stood up.

“Hey man,” he said. “We didn’t get off on a great foot yesterday. I’m Diego.” He held out his hand for Dave to shake. 

Dave looked at it then over to Klaus. Then back at Diego, and he shook his hand. 

“Dave.” 

He smiled. Diego didn’t, but Klaus hadn’t really expected him to. 

But Dave was still smiling, and now he was smiling at Klaus. 

Diego looked from Dave to Klaus, then down at his hand, which was still being held in Dave’s. Then he looked at Klaus again. Then back at Dave. 

“Uh, so, I actually gotta go,” he said and slowly pulled his hand out of Dave’s. 

“Oh, right,” Dave said. “Sorry.” 

There was an awkward silence as the group looked around at each other. 

“Is he gonna go?” Ben asked. Klaus was the only one who seemed to be able to hear him. That didn’t surprise him. 

“Right,” Diego said. “I’ll see you later.” 

And he left. He left his coffee on the table. 

“Everything okay?” Dave asked. He walked over and sat on the table next to Klaus. He left his legs hanging off the edge of the table and was swinging them back and forth like a toddler. “I didn’t expect to see him again after yesterday. Everything alright?” 

“Yeah, we talked through everything,” Klaus said. “We’re good.” 

Dave started at him silently for a moment. Klaus couldn’t read his expression. 

“Good,” he eventually said. “That’s good.” Klaus nodded. Dave nodded. They both drank their coffee. 

“I know yesterday looked bad, but I promise nothing nearly as bad as it looked like would happen, happened.” Klaus cringed as he spoke for no reason other than to break the silence that had settled over them. He knew the words he had just thrown out made little to no sense. 

“I know,” Dave said, somehow connecting the dots in Klaus’ words. “I believe you.” 

Klaus nodded just to be moving. 

“Actually,” Dave continued slowly. “Can I tell you something?” 

“Yeah, of course,” Klaus said, but he knew that the confessions that usually came after that question could be potentially life changing. Big news came after ‘can I tell you something?’ 

“I checked,” Dave said. 

“Checked?” Klaus repeated. “What do you mean you checked?” 

“The cards,” Dave said. “When I someone I care about hasn’t been doing so great or something happened and I just want to make sure everything is okay, I do a card reading. Just a simple spread to try to find out how I can help.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said, not sure what else there was to say. Dave seemed to take that as a negative reaction, when really Klaus was just stunned. 

“I don’t have to do that anymore if you don’t want me to,” he rushed. “I can see how that might cross some lines, I can-” 

“No, no, no,” Klaus said. “I was just a little thrown off, that I would be included in something like that.” 

Dave’s eyebrows grew closer together and lines appeared on his forehead. 

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s just, other than Diego,” Klaus started, staring down at his fingers as they fiddled with the lid of his coffee cup. “I’ve never really been one of the people that people check up on.” 

Dave’s face softened. 

“Well, I guess one of the two smarter people in the world.” 

He stared at Klaus. Klaus stared at him. 

“Are you guys done yet?” Ben hissed in Klaus’ ear. He whipped around to face his brother. 

“Would you shut up?” 

“Would you two get a room?” 

“I will find a way to kill you again.” 

“Whatever,” Ben grumbled. Klaus turned back to Dave, who was looking back and forth between Klaus and where Ben was. Klaus hoped Ben was smart and kind enough to make sure only Klaus could hear and see him. 

“Did you kill that person a first time?” Dave asked. 

“No, I mean, it’s just Ben,” Klaus said before he realized how that would sound. “I mean, I did not kill Ben, he’s just being annoying, and I meant I would find a way to make him and his, um, consciousness die again, since he is already dead,” Klaus rambled on in an attempt to make it seem any better at all. “Like, if it were Diego, I would say ‘I’ll kill you’ if he was being annoying, but-” 

His hands were waving and moving and gesturing the whole time. He was pointing to Ben, to Dave, to himself, out the door, and all around the room and he didn’t know why he was doing any of it. 

At least until Dave grabbed his hands with is to try to calm him down. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he said and Klaus slowly slowed down. “I did not mean that, I’m sorry. I know you didn’t kill anyone.” 

They both stopped moving. Dave was still holding Klaus’ hands with his, but they had both stopped moving. So now they were staring at each other and holding hands. 

It was honestly ideal for Klaus. He was okay with sitting like that for a while. However, someone else didn’t have the same inclination. 

“Og my god, this is exhausting,” Ben said and flung himself dramatically so he was laying on the table. Klaus ignored him. 

Dave looked at his hands and quickly released Klaus’. As he did, Klaus caught a glimpse of his palm. 

“Sorry,” Dave said. 

“No, no, it’s fine,” Klaus said with his eyes still locked on Dave’s hand. He reached out to grab his wrist, but stopped to ask, “Can I?” 

Dave looked down at his own hands. 

“Oh, yeah,” he said and extended his hands back out to Klaus, palms up. 

Klaus took his right hand without a second thought and pushed his fingers out so he could see the lines on his palms more clearly. 

“Oh, wow,” he whispered as he took what he could in. 

“What?” Dave asked. 

“It’s just that your lifeline and your heartline are both really clear. See?” He used his pinky finger to point out the lines he was talking about, tracing the lines right above Dave’s skin. 

“What does that mean?” Dave asked softly. He turned so he was sitting on the table facing Klaus. He moved carefully, as if he didn’t want to pull his hand from Klaus’ grasp.  
Klaus looked up at him and his brain went a little fuzzy when their eyes met. He looked back down at their hands as he explained. 

“So your heartline here,” Klaus pointed to the line closest to the top of his palm, “is long and clear, which usually means you’re open and outgoing and sure of yourself. You know how to handle yourself around people and you know where you stand with them. You have some branches up towards your fingers.” He moved his finger up toward Dave’s. “Which represents the presence of positive relationships in your life.” 

“Okay,” Dave said, which caused Klaus to look up at him. Dave was looking down at him and biting the side of his bottom lip. Klaus looked back down. 

“Your lifeline is long and clear too.” He traced the line curving around Dave’s thumb. “Good physical health. You do have a fork, so there’s a choice that could possibly lead to change. And this branch that goes off toward this finger here,” Klaus pointed to Dave’s index finger, “means that there’s going to be a big change at some point.” Klaus pointed at the end of his lifeline down at his wrist. “The ending position here is more towards the whole ‘open and outgoing’ thing.” 

“Okay,” Dave said again. Klaus made sure he didn’t look up this time. 

“The headline isn’t particularly strong, but not particularly faint either. Same thing with the length, which means you’re not entirely too lost in your head or stuck in reality.” 

“What difference will that make in my life?” Dave asked teasingly. 

“I don’t know, you’re the psychic,” Klaus teased back. He looked up with a smile and finally let go of Dave’s hand. “Sorry, it just caught my eye.” 

“Oh, it’s fine,” Dave said with one of his big, genuine smiles that Klaus loved. “But I think it’s my turn. Ask a question.” 

“What?” Klaus laughed. 

“Just ask a question,” Dave insisted. “Not a joke, okay. A serious question.” 

The request made sense when Dave reached into his bag and pulled out his tarot cards. 

“Ahh,” Klaus mused. “Let me think.” 

“Alright.” 

Most questions, Klaus didn’t want answers to. Some answers he already knew for sure. Some he had a strong suspicion, although whether he actually wanted them confirmed depended on the question. Some he didn’t want to even think about. 

But there was one that he hadn’t thought about in a while, and as much as he could pretend he didn’t, he wanted to know. 

But he didn’t want to ask that one yet. 

“You know, actually,” Klaus said. “Can we do this another time?” 

Dave looked at him, tarot cards still in hand. 

“Yeah,” he said, but he sounded slightly disappointed. “Another time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm about to start school, so I wanted to get this chapter up before then, and would you look at that. I actually did it.


	6. Overwhelmed and Breaking Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go I'm kinda sick but that means I had some time to work on this.

Klaus knew he would be trouble as soon as he walked in. He reminded Klaus of his dad, which was never a good thing for Klaus. He was the right age and had the same white hair, and it automatically put Klaus on edge. But there wasn’t anything he could do. At least, not until the asshole came unglued. 

Then there was a lot to be done about it, only Klaus wasn’t able to do it. 

It all started when wanted to talk to a grandmother he barely remembered, which already made things difficult for Klaus. He needed as much information as possible to find any single spirit among the millions he saw, but he was lucky enough that Klaus managed to find her, she was, however, a stubborn one and didn’t want to be seen by any other living. She was willing to talk to the man through Klaus, but that wasn’t good enough for Reginald Hargreeves Lite. 

If it wasn’t for the lack of the monocle, Klaus would have assumed his father had died and he was now facing his disappointed ghost. 

He wanted to yell, to scream, to tell this asshole he was wrong, but he couldn’t. 

He felt twelve again. Twelve and looking at his father as he added hours to his time in the mausoleum. 

He couldn’t follow exactly what the man was saying, but he did hear  _ bullshit market _ and  _ fraud _ and  _ not good enough _ . 

Soon enough Klaus began to hear his father’s voice too.  _ Afraid. Not good enough. _

“Stop it,” Klaus said, but even he could hear his voice wavering. 

“Get my goddamn grandmother here and I will gladly stop yelling!” 

“I’m sorry. I told you,” Klaus tried, but he wasn’t having it. 

“I know what you told me!” He shouted even louder. 

Klaus could feel his control over the spirits around him slipping away. He covered his ears as their wailing and the man’s shouting grew louder. 

“Listen to me you fucking fraud!” 

“ _ Stop it! _ ” But his father continued shouting. “ _ Stop! _ ” Klaus shrieked again and then fell to the floor. 

And he did. Klaus didn’t know why, but he actually stopped yelling. Instead, he was looking all around the room in fear in confusion with his mouth hanging open. 

Then Dave was behind him. Klaus could see his mouth moving, but he couldn’t hear his words over the shrieks of the dead. He closed his eyes and pressed his hands harder against his ears in an attempt to drown out the noise. The last thing he saw was Dave grabbing the man by the arm and shoving him out the door. 

Klaus spent the next few seconds in the dark and the cold. They were too close to him. They made everything cold. It was like they sucked the heat out of the air around them. He could feel himself shaking. 

But then he felt something else. Warmth. 

Warmth grew on him. On his shoulder and the opposite arm. Then his back and one side of his face. 

He must have reacted, recoiled, because then the sensation was gone. 

He reached out for it. He wanted to get it back. It grounded him, he needed it. Then it was there again, on either side of his face. 

“Klaus.” It was muddled, but it cut through his haze. “Klaus!”

He gasped as he opened his eyes. 

“Dave,” he whispered when he realized the source of the warmth was Dave’s hands. 

“Yeah, yeah, Klaus,” he said. “You’re good, you’re good, you’re okay.” 

“Oh god,” Klaus said and closed his eyes again. Dave tried to move his hands away from Klaus again, but he reached out, with his eyes still closed, and grabbed his wrists. “Sorry, sorry,” he muttered without opening his eyes or letting go of Dave’s hands. 

“No, no, it’s okay, you’re good, Klaus,” Dave said and shifted so Klaus was holding his hands rather than his wrists. “What do you need?” 

Klaus didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer. Instead, he leaned forward and raised their hands so the back of Dave’s hands were pressed against his forehead. 

“Okay,” Dave muttered softly. “Okay.” 

And they sat like that. And sat like that, and sat like that, and sat like that, until Klaus calmed down and his breathing wasn’t so shaky and he opened his eyes again. 

He finally pried a hand out a Dave’s and wiped his eyes. Then he ran a finger under each eye because he was sure his eyeliner was smeared to hell. 

“Klaus,” Ben said. He jerked his head up to look at his brother, and saw him leaning against Klaus’ desk with his arms crossed. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said. 

“Oh, I doubt you do,” Ben insisted, eyes wide and head bobbing with every word. 

“What are you talking about?” Klaus asked weakly. 

“Everyone here,” Ben started, “was  _ here _ .” 

“What?” 

“You made everyone here visible, Klaus.” 

Klaus’ eyes went wide. 

“All of them?” He turned to Dave, who was still sitting next to him on the floor. 

“The room was full of people, all glowing blue. They were all screaming.” 

_ Well, shit. _

“Welcome to my life,” Klaus gave up. He folded his legs up and wrapped his arms around them and put his forehead on his knees. “All day, every day, for years.” 

He couldn’t make himself look up. He refused to look at them. 

“Wha-” 

“I got them to stop screaming for a while there,” he continued, not letting Dave finish. “But I lost control there. Sorry about that. I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” 

He sat up straight and pulled his arms away from his legs, but Dave stopped him when he tried to stand up. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” 

“I’m-” 

“No you’re not,” Dave said. “Look, I know you’re in charge, but you obviously need to rest. Close up and go home.” 

“I can’t,” Klaus said before he thought about it. 

“What do you mean?” Dave asked. Klaus looked at him, then at Ben, who gave him a rather unsympathetic shrug. 

_ Fine _ . 

“The whole  _ going _ home thing, not possible,” Klaus said slowly. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. 

“Klaus, what are you talking about?” 

He sighed before, “I live in the shop, Dave.” 

Dave didn’t say anything for a moment. Klaus wasn’t sure if he did anything because he refused to open his eyes again. He was content with the idea of never opening his eyes again. Never seeing the look on Dave’s face. Never having to see Ben or Diego’s disappointment in him. 

“Look, can we just not?” Klaus eventually asked. “I’ll close up and go to the back, but I just…” He trailed off. He didn’t know. 

“No,” Dave said firmly. Klaus reluctantly opened his eyes. “Come on, Klaus,  _ really _ ?” 

“What?” 

“I’m not letting you sleep in the back of the fucking shop, not now that I know about it,” Dave said. Emotions saturated his voice in a way Klaus had never heard from Dave before. He was usually… not necessarily soft, but open. Now he seemed, not quite angry, but  _ energized _ . “Come on.” 

“Where?” Klaus asked after a moment.

“My apartment,” Dave said and stood up. He turned around as soon as he was upright and held a hand out for Klaus. 

Klaus looked at Dave’s hand, then up to his face, then over his shoulder at Ben, who was looking at him expectantly. He looked back at Dave’s hand for a second, then reached out and took it. 

“Grab anything you need to, I’ll go get my car,” Dave said, letting go of Klaus’ hand and reached into his pocket for his keys. He backed up toward the door as Klaus nodded. He gave Klaus one last look before turning around and walking through the door. Klaus made his way to the back.

“I should have fucking known something would happen,” he muttered as he paced in the kitchen/ break room. “Should have fucking known I would lose control. Should have fucking known I couldn’t fucking do this.” 

He felt his eyes begin to water, and soon after his vision began to blur again. Ben appeared next to him as his breath grew shaky. 

“Klaus, you’re doing great,” he said softly. 

“Don’t fucking do that, Ben,” Klaus responded and ran his hands through his hair, pulling on hand fulls as he continued. “I’m not doing great, I can tell, okay? I’m not an idiot.” He felt bad for the words coming out of his mouth, but he couldn’t seem to stop them. “I’m getting by. I’ve been  _ getting by _ this entire time. It might have been more than what was expected from me, but that doesn’t make it great. It doesn’t change the fact that I lose my shit as soon as some asshole yells at me!” 

“Klaus, these things happen! And they happen to everybody,” Ben said. “You do not suck at everything you’re doing because you had one bad day. Especially after a fuckton of trying ones.” 

“He’s right.” Klaus spun around at the sound of Dave’s voice. He was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, looking at Klaus with an expression he couldn’t quite figure out. “I don’t mean to butt in, but he’s right.” 

“I-” Klaus started, but didn’t know what he was even going to say. 

“Come on,” Dave said and gestured over his shoulder toward the front. “You just need to rest, you’ll feel better later.” 

Dave turned out to be right. After taping a note saying, “Closed for the day. Sorry for the inconvenience,” to the door, they got into Dave’s old, beat up car, where Klaus promptly fell asleep. He woke up when Dave gently shook his shoulder. 

“Hey,” he whispered. “Hey, Klaus, we’re here.” 

“Hrunnng,” Klaus mumbled and cracked his eyes open. 

“Come on,” Dave said softly. 

They made their way inside and up a few flights of stairs. Klaus wasn’t paying enough attention to anything other than following Dave to notice anything about the building. He eventually fell far enough behind Dave that he walked back around to him and put an arm around his shoulders. Klaus leaned into his side. 

Soon they came to a stop in front of one of the doors on the right side of the hallway. Dave reached out and opened the door with the hand that wasn’t on Klaus’ shoulder. 

“You don’t lock your door?” Klaus asked. 

“Shh, that’s a secret,” Dave said, which made Klaus giggle. Dave guided him inside. 

“How do I know you didn’t trick me to come here so you could kill me?” Klaus asked, the sleepy smile still on his face. He could feel himself spiraling into his ‘can’t shut up about random bullshit things’ state of exhaustion. 

“What kind of killer doesn’t lock their door?” 

”Good point.” 

Dave quietly guided him past a tiny kitchen and into a room. 

“Here,” he said and helped Klaus onto the bed. He walked across the room to pull a curtain over a small window. 

“Thanks,” Klaus muttered. 

“Of course,” Dave said softly. Klaus put his head down as Dave left the room, shutting the door behind him. 

Klaus was asleep in seconds. 

~~~

He woke up disoriented and confused. He didn’t know where he was or how he got there or how long he’d been asleep or what time it was. 

Then he remembered. He groaned as the events of the morning came back to him. He forced himself to stand up. 

“Okay,” he whispered to himself as he made his way to the door. “Let’s go deal with this fucking shit show.” He paused when he got a hand on the doorknob and heaved out a sigh. He closed his eyes and opened the door. 

Light flooded into the room. Klaus held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sudden light as his vision blurred. 

“Hey Klaus,” Dave’s voice came from somewhere in front of him. He waited for his eyes to adjust to respond. 

“Hey,” he said. “How long did I sleep?” 

“A few hours,” Dave stood up from where he was sitting on a couch. He was wearing an army green t-shirt with sleeves that fell to his elbows and grey sweatpants. He stood and put his hands in his pockets. “You okay?” 

“By my standards? Yeah, I’m fine,” Klaus said and walked around to the other side of the couch staring at his feet the entire way there. He stopped facing Dave, and they both collapsed onto the couch at the same time. 

“What about someone else’s standards?” 

“I’m fine by Diego’s standards too.” 

“ _ Klaus _ .” 

He just sighed and looked away, which gave him a chance to finally take in anything else about the room. 

“Are you watching Scooby- fucking- Doo?” 

“Hey, no, no, listen,” Dave said and threw his hands up defensively. You don’t get to worry me like that and then shame my feel good entertainment.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said, deflating slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-” 

“No, no sorry, I didn’t mean,” Dave started, but then stopped himself. He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply. He opened his eyes and changed the subject. “Really, Klaus, are you okay?” 

Klaus looked at him and gave him. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “That guy just…” He stopped and put his head in his hands. “He reminded me of my dad.” 

“Your dad was the much of an asshole?” 

“My dad was worse than that,” Klaus spit out. “That jackass was just the closest I’ve had to get to dealing with him since I left home.” 

Dave was looking at him. His gaze was intense, but in a different way than Klaus expected. Concern, not pity. 

“You wanna talk about it?” 

He did. All of it. 

“Yeah, but there’s something else I should have told you before, too. It ties into all this bullshit.” 

“Okay,” Dave said softly. “Better late than never.” And he smiled at Klaus, genuinely smiled at him, he could see it all the way up to his eyes. 

“Okay.” He paused to figure out exactly what to say. “Do you remember that thing when we were younger, um, the thing with the kids, uh, the Umbrella Academy?”

“Yeah,” Dave said slowly. “That’s the one with the billionaire with the kids with the powers and stuff, right?” 

“Yeah.”

“I’m not sure where this is going but I’d like to put it out there that that guy always seemed like an asshole,” Dave said with a chuckle at the end. “Sorry, I-” 

“No, you’re right. He was- is- an asshole,” Klaus insisted, leaning toward Dave as his did. “And he yelled at those kids an- and tortured those kids in ways that make that guy at the shop today look like nothing.” 

Dave was still looking at him, and after a few seconds his expression shifted from one of confusion, to understanding, then shock, and finally settled on one that was slightly angry. 

“Klaus, what did he do?” 

“That’s not the part I needed to-” Klaus stopped as his voice started to quiver. 

“You’re good, Klaus, you’re good, you don’t have to keep going,” Dave said and reached out to put a hand on Klaus’ shoulder. Klaus nodded and closed his eyes. 

“I feel like I should have mentioned that sooner,” Klaus said when he felt able to. “But once I realized I never had it was too late and it seemed kinda hard to work into a conversation.” 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to mention it either,” Dave said. “Not if it made me act half as upset as you’ve been. Did you think I would be upset you didn’t tell me?” Klaus finally looked at him again and nodded. “Don’t worry about it. I think at this point I should have been able to put two and two together myself. Weird group of kids with powers, then you, who can see the dead? If I wasn’t able to put that together that’s on me.” 

Klaus heaved out a sigh. He pulled his legs up and folded in on himself again. 

“You’re not mad?” 

“No,” Dave chuckled and leaned back against the couch. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, just staring at each other. 

“Do you remember when we were at the shop, and I read your palm?” Klaus asked, unable to tolerate the silence anymore. 

“Yeah.” 

“And you offered to do a tarot reading, but I didn’t want to ask my question?” 

“Yeah.” Dave raised his eyebrows slightly, and Klaus could tell he knew where this was going.

“Any chance I could ask my question now?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why but I was thinking one day and I realized canon timeline Dave died before Scooby Doo started and my mind went 'well in Open For Business he's gonna watch Scooby Doo at some point' and I finally got a chance to work it in there.  
> anyway come talk to me about the fic or tua in general on tumblr @lastyoungrene-gay-de


	7. The Wheel of Fortune

“So,” Dave started, cards in hand. “What’s the question?” 

They were both sitting on the floor with their legs crossed in front of them and facing each other. Dave’s eyes were flickering from his cards to Klaus and back. He had paused to Scooby- Doo on the TV, so now they had an audience. Velma was looking at them from where she was stuck on the screen, head tilted with a hand on her chin and his eyes narrowed, skeptical of Klaus’ life decisions. He ignored her, and instead focused on how badly he wanted to know why. 

“Why did he put The Umbrella Academy together?” 

Dave looked up from his cards and directly at Kaus. They sat like that for a moment until Dave nodded and began shuffling.

Klaus watched him, or to be specific, he watched his hands. Watched as he shuffled and spread the cards face down in front of him. 

“Okay, am I just taking one?” Klaus asked. Dave but his bottom lip and thought for a moment. 

“For this, I’m sure this is gonna be something fairly complicated,” he paused for a moment. Klaus eventually realized he was waiting for some kind of response and nodded. Then Dave continued, “Let’s try three.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said and looked down at the cards again. “I’ve seen you do this enough times, you’d think I’d feel more comfortable doing this,” he added. 

“You’re good,” Dave said softly. “Take your time.” 

Klaus looked up at him again. The way he was leaning over the cards, it felt like Dave was towering over him which would usually have intimidated him, but Dave’s lazy distant smile was probably the most comforting thing Klaus had ever seen. He looked back down. 

“Okay,” he said. 

He put a hand out over the cards and stared at them intensely, waiting for some kind of sign. He waved his hand back and forth, fingers so close to their surface he could almost feel them on his finger tips. 

He ended up picking all three of his cards from fairly close to the center of the line. The first two he felt a tingling sensation whenever his hand got close to them, and the last one he chose because he could have sworn the red and white design on the back of the cards sharpened and swirled when he looked at it. He set them down in front of him face up. 

The Chariot, The Wheel of Fortune, and The Star. 

Dave’s eyebrows grew closer together and his head tilted a bit to one side when he saw them. 

“Hmmm.” 

“What?” Klaus asked.

“It’s just that,” Dave started as he was shaking his head, “these two cards here tend to be interpreted as contradictory.” He pointed to the first two cards Klaus drew. “The Chariot usually means the person in question either has or  _ will  _ have control over a situation, but The Wheel of Fortune indicated events you have no control over.” Klaus looked up as Dave paused again. He took a deep breath and continued. 

“I think the academy was his attempt at controlling a situation that made him nervous or uncomfortable. The Star here,” he pointed to the last card, “represents hope for the future. Whatever his reason was, it made him feel better about something he saw coming that he didn’t like.” 

They were both silent for a moment. Klaus felt something next to him move, and when he turned to it he saw Ben sitting next to him. 

“That sounds about right,” he muttered. Klaus nodded and looked over at Dave, who was looking at Ben. 

“Yeah, Dad never liked when he didn’t know what was going on,” Klaus agreed, looking up at Dave. 

And that was it. Nothing else notable happened. Nothing then and nothing for another few weeks. 

Another few weeks of Klaus bumping between the back couch, Diego’s couch and Dave’s bed- alone in Dave’s bed. Dave always insisted on taking the couch himself so Klaus could rest. 

Then something happened. 

One evening, when Klaus was planning on staying in the shop for the night, Dave stuck around. 

Klaus was sitting on the counter next to the sink, and Dave was leaning against it next to him with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. 

“Okay, there’s no way that really happened,” Dave forced through his laughter. 

“I’m serious,” Klaus said, shoulders shaking as he remembered one of the few bright parts of his childhood. “Back before Five disappeared and Ben died we would all sneak out and go to the doughnut shop a few blocks away.” 

“A group of six superpowered adopted children of a billionaire would sneak out to a doughnut shop?” Dave asked incredulously. 

“Yes!” Klaus insisted. “And actually there were seven of us.” 

“Wait, what?” Klaus could see him doing the count in his head to try to figure out which one he’d forgotten.

“Yeah,” Klaus said and folded his legs up onto the counter. “Most people didn’t know about Vanya. Number Seven.” Dave shifted so his entire body was facing Klaus with his hip against the counter. “She wasn’t in the Academy. She didn’t have powers.” 

“Didn’t?” Dave questioned. 

“Doesn’t,” Klaus corrected quickly. “We haven’t talked since we all left.” His voice was impartial and uncharacteristically dead, even he could hear it. He didn’t know what to think of most of his siblings. Usually he just didn’t. 

“You didn’t get along with her?” Dave asked softly when Klaus didn’t continue. 

“I didn’t really get along with any of them,” Klaus responded. “I was close enough with Ben and Diego to survive. Then Ben died and we all started going our separate ways, luckily Diego could still tolerate me, and we left. I haven’t talked to any of the others since.” 

He looked over at Dave when he finished. He didn’t know where either of them could go from there. How did you get past your horrible relationship with your famous super-siblings in a conversation? 

But he didn’t want Dave to go. 

He opened his mouth to say anything at all, no matter how stupid, but Dave spun off the counter so he was standing in front of Klaus. And facing him. And not standing very far away. 

“Those can’t be all your dumbass family stories,” he said, staring at Klaus with a surprising softness in his eyes. Klaus smiled, and he smiled back. 

“Okay, so,” he started. “Do you know how many times were ate ourselves sick on those fucking doughnuts?” He burst into laughter as he remembered one of the times he actually enjoyed the company of all of his siblings. “There was one time Lu, Luther… got so sick.” He had to pause again because he couldn’t talk around his laughter anymore. Dave was grinning with him, and waited patiently for him to continue. “Luther got so sick, and while he was running to the bathroom, Diego… oh shit.” He stopped to laugh again, and Dave’s smile grew. “Diego fucking threw these fucking doughnut holes that he’d dipped in his coffee so they were sticky... at him. And they fucking stuck like that… on his back and in his hair, and we were all waiting for him to realize, and we eventually all forgot and he still had the fucking things stuck to him when we got home.” 

He had to stop again. He tried to stop himself from laughing at all, and when that failed it was obvious enough that it sent Dave into a fit of giggles as well. They both leaned forward as they did, so their faces were not inches apart. 

“Are you serious?” Dave asked, still laughing. 

“Yes!” Klaus answered. They were both still laughing so hard they were wheezing. “It almost got us busted when we got home.” 

They laughed and laughed and laughed. Dave put his hands on the counter on either side of Klaus to support himself. 

“That’s incredible,” Dave said when they both calmed down enough to speak. He left his hands on the counter. 

“Yeah,” Klaus sighed. “And to think, one of those dumbass kids, the one who never never really sure if we paid for the doughnuts or nut, ended up running a fucking business.” 

“Yeah, and he doesn’t suck at it either,” Dave said and smiled again.

“God, whatever,” Klaus said and shook his head. “My first advertisements were fucking fliers that I hung around the neighborhood like they were for some fucking mid-two thousands movie about a high school garage band that somehow made it big.” 

“That’s better than nothing,” Dave insisted with a shrug.

“Yeah, Ben made me do that,” Klaus said and chuckled a bit as he remembered how badly Ben had pushed him to do it. “Looking back now they were kinda stupid.” 

“Hey, I came in because of one of those stupid fliers!” Dave laughed. 

“Wait seriously?” Klaus asked in disbelief. 

“Yeah,” Dave responded with a single nod of his head. “I remember that first day I came in. I saw one of those fliers taped up and just  _ felt _ like I needed to come over.” He laughed lightly again. “Came over the next day.” 

“Did you ever find out why?” Klaus asked. “Why you felt like you needed to, I mean.” 

“Yeah,” he said with a faint smile, looking Klaus in the eyes. “Yeah, I think so.” He looked at Klaus and leaned in a tiny amount, but Klaus still noticed it. 

There was a small lull in the conversation had Klaus’ mind began to wander. He needed to think about anything other than how close Dave was.

“You okay?” Dave asked. Klaus nodded. 

“Yeah,” he said and chuckled a bit. “Sorry, I was thinkin’ about the doughnut thing again.” Dave pursed his lips. 

“Can I tell you something?” He looked… worried, almost. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, shifting slightly, but making sure to stay as close to Dave as he was before. 

“You remember that first day? With the bitch customer?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And you asked if I needed a job?” 

“Yeah,” Klauus said slowly. Dave looked away for a second, but looked back at Klaus before he continued. 

“I didn’t.” 

“Well,” Klaus started, but never finished. He didn’t know what to say, so he just smiled. “It hasn’t been a terrible experience, has it?” 

“No.” 

Dave smiled and leaned toward Klaus ever-so-slightly again. This time Klaus leaned in too. They both laughed. And they both stared at each other as Dave reached up and put a hand on the side of Klauus’ face. 

Klaus leaned into his touch as Dave stared at him. He ran his thumb over Klaus’ cheekbone before letting his hand fall so his fingertips ghosted over his jaw line. He leaned in even closer and lightly nudged Klaus’ chin up. Enough to make it clear, not too much to force him. 

Klaus let him guide him all the way to him and closer. 

  
  
  
  
  


A few years later, and a few days after Diego seemingly randomly smacked the shop’s door open. 

Klaus was sitting on his desk with his back to the door and his feet up on his chair. Dave stood in front of him, leaning in for a kiss. 

“So what’s the plan for today?” he asked, but Klaus never got the chance to answer. 

The door burst open and Diego entered. 

“Did you see?” he asked. Klaus spun around so fiercely he almost slip off the desk. Dave put his hands on his shoulders to steady him and left them there. 

“See what?” Dave asked. Diego reached the desk and slammed his hands down next to Klaus. As he opened his mouth to answer though, Ben appeared next to him. 

“Did you see?” Ben asked, his eyes wide. He looked over at Diego as if just realizing he was there. “Did  _ you _ see?” 

“Yeah,” Diego answered excitedly and nodding aggressively. 

“Oh my god,” Klaus sighed. “What happened?” He turned around on the desk, and Dave wrapped his arms around him and rested his chin on his shoulder. Klaus leaned backwards into him. 

“Dad died,” Diego said. Klaus’ eyes widened and he was silent for a moment while processing the news. 

Then he laughed. And he didn’t stop until his missing brother fell out a mysterious glowing hole in the sky. 

The truth came a few days after that, and it reminded Klaus of the tarot reading he’d done years before. 

He was somehow still back at the Academy, and somehow being the voice of reason among his siblings. 

“Hole the phone,” he said and waved a hand around. “We all died fighting this thing the first time around, remember?” 

“That is not a fun thing to think about,” Dave muttered from where he was standing behind him. Luther, who was standing next to Klaus, looked over at him. 

“Okay, I still don’t even know who you are,” he said and narrowed his eyes and spun to see if the others were thinking the same thing. Allison looked between the two of them, but didn’t say anything. 

“Luther,” Diego snapped, which got his attention. He was tossing a knife around idly as he spoke. “Klaus shockingly has a point. What gives us a win this time?” 

Luther isn’t given a chance to answer, because just then, another hole opened up above them. Five fell out of it and onto the bar with a flash and a  _ zap! _ Dust and ash fell through with him. 

Luther and Allison jumped away from the crash site. Klaus stumbled off of his stool and would have fallen flat on his ass if Dave hadn’t caught him and pulled him back a few steps. Diego held his knife up and out toward the bar with his arm across his chest. They all watched silently as Five rolled off the bar. 

“Five, where have you been?” Luther finally broke the silence. 

“Are you alright?” Allison added as the two of them rushed forward to help him up. 

“Who did this?” Luther continued. 

“Irrelevant,” Five shot back as he stood and grabbed Allison’s coffee cup out of her hands. Her hands fell to her side in a defeated gesture as he walked past her and chugged her coffee. They all turned as their eyes followed him. He turned around with a sigh. 

“So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save the world is, well, us.” 

“The Umbrella Academy,” Luther agreed. 

“Yeah, but with me, obviously,” Five shot back. “So if y’all don’t get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves we’re screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us?” Klaus shook his head softly and Dave squeezed his shoulder where he was still holding onto him. “No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I’ve come back with a lead. I know who’s responsible for the apocalypse.” 

He held up a folded piece of paper. Allison took a step forward and held out her hand, and he handed it over without a word. She unfolded it. 

“This is who we have to stop,” he said as the rest of them eyes the paper over her shoulder. 

“Harold Jenkins?” Allison read. 

“Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?” Diego asked as they all looked up at Five, who finished off the coffee and tossed the cup over his shoulder. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “Yet. But I do know that he’s responsible for the apocalypse. We have to stop him, and we have to do it now.” 

“How is he connected to what’s gonna happen?” Luther asked. 

“I don’t know.” 

“Wait, so you just know his name?” Diego asked and took a step between Dave and Allison toward Five. “That’s it?” 

“That’s enough.” 

“There’s probably dozens of Harold Jenkinses in the city.” 

“Well, we just better start looking, then.” 

“I’m sorry, and I the only one that’s skeptical?” Allison asked and threw her hand up. “I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what’s his name?” 

“Harold Jenkins,” Five said. “You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?” 

“Oh yeah, I think I remember those guys,” Klaus said lightly. Dave squeezed his shoulder again and wrapped his arms around his waist. 

“Yeah, the ones who attacked us while you were getting drunk,” Diego shot at Five, who ignored his tone and kept going. 

“Yeah. Them. They were sent by the Temp Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth.” 

“The Temps  _ what _ ?” Allison asked. 

“My former employer,” Five said, agitation and frustration beginning to soak his voice. “They monitor all of space and time to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen, happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to the Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. ‘Protect Harold Jenkins.’ So he must be responsible for the apocalypse.” 

They stood in silence for a moment, each with an expression of different levels of disbelief on their face. Then they all spoke at once. 

“What do you mean protect time and space?” 

“Where is this  _ Hazel _ , Five?” 

Klaus shifted so he could talk to Dave, who leaned forward so his ear was right next to Klaus’ lips. 

“Did you know something about all of this?” he asked softly. 

“No, this is all news to me,” he replied with a slight shake of his head. “Which is weird because most things aren’t this big when I don’t kinda see it coming, ya know, because of the whole,” he wiggled his fingers where they were interlocked on Klaus’ stomach, “ya know,  _ thing _ ,” he finished. Klaus nodded and turned his attention back to his siblings. 

“Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?” Allison was asking. 

“You know what else is insane?” Five asked and looked up from where his hand was pressed to his side. “I look like a 13-year-old boy. Klaus talks to the dead and Luther thinks he’s fooling everybody with that over coat. Everything about us is insane. It always has been.” 

“He’s got a point there,” Klaus added. “The seven of us raised in the house by an old billionaire, a talking money in a suit and glasses, and a robot mom because…” He trailed off and his eyes went wide. He started patting Dave’s arm with one hand as he remembered and the dots connected. 

“What?” Dave asked, and moved his arms as Klaus turned around. 

“Because controlling  _ us _ gave him hope about the apocalypse, something he couldn’t control.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to write kissing scenes, so my solution was a literal years long time jump. Sorry. 
> 
> So this fic is like... done. That's so weird to think about. What am I gonna do now? 
> 
> Also, idk how but they do stop the apocalypse on the first try in this au because I said so. Also I had some trouble picking the exact ending, and cut some, so it's possible I might do something with that in a continuation fic or something. Maybe I'll rewrite this one from another POV. Probably won't do either of those, but hey, they're some ideas. 
> 
> Thanks for all the support w this fic. It's the first time I've actually finished a multi-chapter fic. Kinda proud of myself.
> 
> Also with the whole "Luther doesn't know who Dave is" thing I was sooo tempted to have Klaus make some kind of comment about 'I can't believe you don't remember our other sibling' but then I remembered what kind of incest problem this fandom has but even the slight idea of it has no place ANYWHERE NEAR my lovely incest free fic.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be adding more characters, tags, and relationships as I post! Dave will be making his first appearance next chapter. That I can promise as I actually have an outline and plan for this already! Feel free to come talk to me about The Umbrella Academy on tumblr (@lastyoungrene-gay-de).


End file.
